


The babysitter

by Zoya113



Category: Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid
Genre: Domestic, F/M, Family, Gift Fic, I’m running out of nouns to use as story titles, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:36:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28809753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: The Davidson’s have a date night
Relationships: Carol Davidson & Colonel Schaeffer, Ken Davidson/ Carol Davidson
Kudos: 5





	The babysitter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LetMePukeInYourMouthEm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetMePukeInYourMouthEm/gifts).



> I’m so sorry that this isn’t the 15k bean hopper repair fic I promised to gift u awhfndnf😔✋🏻/lh /j

“What time was our dinner reservation again, dear?” Carol called out to Ken as she searched around for where she had left her purse, she wasn’t usually the most forgetful, but having a four year old to take care of left her a bit sleep deprived and mentally jumbled sometimes.

“Seven,” he answered, meeting her in the living room, their four year old waddling along hand in hand. He handed over her purse from his hand. “Kitchen table,” he informed her, planting a kiss to her cheek. “When was the babysitter supposed to arrive?” 

“Half past six,” Carol answered with a frown, glancing up at the clock with a gasp. “Oh, we have to leave soon.”

Ken hoisted Bea up onto his hip, rubbing Carol’s shoulder with his other hand. “Don’t worry, she’s probably just a bit late. And it’s okay if we’re aren’t on time to dinner,” he assured her. 

She nodded, she didn’t want to cancel their night out but she wouldn’t want to leave Bea if there was a problem with the sitter. “I’ll go check the phone,” she suggested, “maybe we missed a call.”

“Good idea,” Ken nodded, running a hand through their daughter’s hair, and Carol smiled to herself at the sound of him cooing to her, and the messy babbles coming from her mouth. “Oh, that’s the door!” 

“Ah!” Carol let out a breath of relief, although the answering machine still had a new message waiting on it, so she held it to her ear only to recognise their usual babysitters voice calling in for the night, unable to make it, she held the phone away from her ear for a second as a split second of surprise shocked her before hurrying to the door to see what that was all about. 

A grunt from her husband answered that question though as their front door was slammed open, something that still quite frightened her, but was almost a relief to her tonight. 

“Carol, my love, you’ve got a surprise guest,” came Ken’s voice with only a slight grumble to it. 

“Oh, Claire!” She hurried back to the front hall, just about to give her a hug when she held out her arms to take Bea off of Ken’s hip, occupying her hands. “It’s lovely to see you!” 

“Have I come at the wrong time?” She didn’t quite phrase it as a question, and was rather busy trying to figure out how to hold the four year old until she finally settled on scooping her up in her big hands like she was still a six month old, and not almost five. “I was in town.” 

She laughed anxiously, “oh Claire it’s never a bad time,” she said, although her sister had already wandered into the living room with Bea still in her hands, absent as per usual. 

“But it is the wrong time,” Ken whispered back nervously, glancing over at the woman holding his daughter. “We have to leave soon. Have you heard from the baby sitter?” 

“She’s just cancelled,” Carol frowned, and Ken shot her a concerned look. 

“That’s alright, I’ll call my parents!” He squeezed Carol’s hand before she could panic. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind the late notice, we can drop her off on the way.”

“Oh really? Would they mind? I don’t know what time we’ll be home tonight, I don’t want to impose,” she didn’t want to bother his parents, Bea was a well behaved child, perhaps they could take her with them? It just meant they’d have to be home a lot earlier than planned.

“Where are you going?” Came Claire’s voice again, and Carol stepped into the living room. Bea was sat on Claire’s knee, and she was letting the child play with her fingers. 

“Uh, Ken and I have a reservation tonight, but Bea’s babysitter has just called in sick,” she recounted, and Ken winced again at the complication.

Claire blinked, if anything, perhaps side eyeing Ken, but she said nothing. 

“I’m calling my parents, dove,” Ken assured her, heading to the phone. 

“I’ll watch the baby,” Claire announced, still sounding rather vacant but taking them both by surprise. 

“Oh!” Was Carol’s first reaction, shooting a glance to her husband who had frozen besides her. 

“I’m-“ he gestured over his shoulder to the phone. “I’m going to call my parents right now it’s okay,” he managed a rigid shake of his head at her offer, taking a step back.

“Don’t you trust me, Ken?” She stared him dead on, enough to make him freeze in his tracks and grab onto Carol’s hands, once he was sufficiently spooked she returned her attention to the child. 

“Oh, it’s not that Claire,” Carol tried to start for her husband, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. She turned to Ken, “it wouldn’t hurt, would it? I don’t want to bother your parents,” or leave her sister about the house alone, she’d love it if she stayed for the night rather than head right out. “And we cant cancel dinner, we’re supposed to be there soon.” 

He squeezed her hand again with a tense look and gulped. “If you trust her,” he whispered back. 

“Of course I trust her,” Claire nodded. She knew her sister wasn’t all there some of the time but she wasn’t going to drop Bea on her head - she was actually quite protective, and they seemed to be getting along right now, anyways. “And Bea likes her,” she gestured to the child who was grinning in her lap, both of her small hands clinging onto Claire’s. 

Ken managed a smile at least once seeing his daughter was still happy. “Well I don’t suppose she’s going to let anyone take her,” he could say that at least. 

“Are you sure you’re okay to watch her?” Carol asked once more, coming in to kiss Bea’s forehead goodbye. 

“Oh of course,” she nodded. “I’m sure a baby is a lot easier to handle than some of the people I work with,” she added with a rather amused smirk that made Carol grin too, glad she wasn’t bothering her. 

“Of course, Captain,” Ken tilted his head, the idea lost on him.

“I’m a lieutenant colonel, actually,” she corrected him with a grimace. “And if you do anything to hurt Carol I’m not giving your child back,” she added snappily.

“Claire!” Carol managed to cut an argument off before it could start with a quick, anxious laugh. “Just make sure she’s asleep by eight okay? We’ve left a snack for her in the fridge if she’s hungry.”

She only nodded her head to show she was listening. 

“And we’ll be home by ten thirty, eleven at the latest,” she promised, hands clasped together as they started backing up towards the door. 

“Your child is very quiet,” she stated instead. “When I was her age I could climb to the top of the tree in the backyard.”

Well, that was definitely an exaggeration. “She’s not quiet, she’s just deaf, remember?”

“Shouldn’t stop her from learning how to climb,” she shrugged, speaking like it was an offhand topic floating around her head. “Have a good night out, you two.” 

The two lover‘s exchanged glances by the door, and Ken took her hand tighter. “Maybe let’s not stay out too late.” 

———————————————————

“I’m really glad we didn’t have to cancel tonight,” Carol held onto Ken’s hand across the table, their meals finished but two half full glasses of red wine on the table left waiting. 

“It was lovely to bring you here again,” Ken nodded, a sort of smile slipping onto his face as he looked her in the eye, lifting her hand up to plant a kiss on the smooth skin of her hand, leaving it by his face for a beat longer, his eyes focusing on something else. 

“Are you alright, love?” 

“Of course, nutmeg,” he nodded all too quickly, letting go of her hand to take a sip of his drink, leaning back in his chair. “What about you?” 

She gave a small laugh. “I’m doing great, Ken,” but their conversation was a bit more stilted than it usually was, and when he put his drink down Carol took his hand again. “Are you sure?”

He nodded a bit more frantically this time. “Of course! You don’t have to worry about me, dear, we’re having a lovely evening out and I love to be here with you.” When he took his hand back he started fidgeting with the ring on his hand. “It’s been a while since we’ve been here, actually,” he pointed out.

She laughed a bit louder at that, Ken found it very endearing, letting out a chuckle himself. “That’s very sweet of you, you just seem like you’re thinking about something?” 

“You look very beautiful, Carol,” he said, his hands returning to his lap to finish of his drink as she smiled at him. “That’s all, I’ve just been thinking that.”

She held her glass, not drinking it but just to give her hands something to do now that they were free, stirring the glass to watch the drink go round, and just out of the corner of her eye she saw him check his watch. 

She tilted her head, a slight frown touching her face. 

He caught her looking, and quickly grabbed her hand again. “Do you think your sister will remember to put Bea to sleep?” 

She let out a relieved laugh. “Oh, you’ve looked a bit shocked tonight, is that what you were worried about?” 

He nodded his head slightly, a bit sheepishly. “I don’t mean to say anything bad about Claire,” he explained himself which was nice of him to say considering Carol knew their relationship wasn’t the smoothest. “It’s just about Bea.”

“Oh dear, I’m sorry that it’s been worrying you, I didn’t mean to cause you any stress by leaving her with Claire-“

“No, no!” He quickly cut in. “You’ve dome nothing wrong, love, of course you haven’t, I’m not stressed, not any more stressed than I should be stepping away from our daughter, that is. I’m a healthy amount of stressed,” he tried to joke, but it landed a little flat, Carol chuckled anyways just to let him know she was with him. 

“Well, I think it might be really lovely, dear, Bea really seems to like Claire, and it makes me happy when they spends some time together, I think spending some time together might be good for her!” She tried to explain, but she didn’t want to overstep Ken’s comfort zone, nor Claire’s. She took a sip of her wine so they were one step closer to getting home, as much as she wanted to stay out all night with him. 

“I’m glad she’ll grow up with her aunt in her life,” Ken agreed, he wouldn’t want to rob her of that just because of his own nerves around Schaeffer. He didn’t buy the whole ‘alien organisation’ thing, or why she only let him call her by her last name, there were lots of odd things about her but she was part of his family now, and he wanted Carol not to worry about anything else. 

“I’m sorry, I know sometimes it seems like Claire isn’t the brightest, but she won’t let anything bad happen to Bea, and she’s very good with the time. Bea will be asleep before we’re home!” She didn’t want to promise, she wasn’t entirely sure if Claire had caught that last bit about her bed time, but she smiled anyways, and Ken seemed to relax ever so slightly. 

He let out a content sigh for the most part, looking back at Carol. “And you’re alright with it?” 

“I am, are you?”

He nodded. “If that’s what you say, my dear, I trust you,” he leant across the table to kiss her, his hand tracing over her cheek before leaning back. “Let’s just not stay out too long,” he chuckled, and as perfect as the night was, Carol had to agree, not that she wanted to race anything. “Would you like to walk around the park?” He offered.

“The park?” She repeated, glancing out the restaurants window across the street.

“Sometimes they’re very lovely at night. I just thought- you know, when you have a child you can’t really do much of anything at night,” he chuckled. “But it’s a lovely sunset out there, we can walk around and go watch it.”

“That sounds really nice, Ken,” she finished her drink when he got up to pay, and hand in hand the headed out into the street, lingering just on the pathway. “Are you sure you want to go walking?” She asked once more, since he had seemed rather worried about their child a few moments ago. 

“Yes, I’m sure are you sure?” He asked.

“I am, yes, are-are you?” 

There was a pause where they simply stared at each other anxiously. 

“Yeah! The night is still young,” Ken finally nodded, a bit more sure. “We’ll be home in time.”

“And the baby will be fine,” Carol assured him as she caught another spark of worry in his eyes, she pressed a hand to his chest where she could feel his heart. “She isn’t teaching Bea wrestling moves or anything,” she snickered, taking his hand to squeeze it tightly as they started walking down to the crossing. “The most harm she’ll do is feed her sweets instead of the fruit we left for her in the fridge,” she suggested, a very Claire-like mistake, but entirely harmless. 

“I’d prefer it if she had her fruit,” Ken chuckled. 

“Well you aren’t entirely guilt-free of that crime either, my dearest,” Carol teased, leaning her head to his shoulder where she could feel his laugh rumble through his chest. 

“Ahh, you’ve got me there, Carol,” he nodded, shrugging. “I hope she doesn’t though- there’s chocolate in the fridge and I’m looking forward to having it for dessert,” he held his hand up in a playful warning that just made Carol grin and chuckle. 

“Oh, Ken, we’ll go by the shops on the way home if you like.” 

“Oh, no, we don’t have to waste time on that,” he shook his head, waving a dismissive hand to brush it off.

Carol giggled, shaking her head too. “We’ll keep an eye on the time, my love.”

———————————————————

Claire stared at the child, and the child stared back, once she had gotten bored playing with her aunt’s hands the soldier had very quickly run out of ideas. 

She checked the time, and then looked back to Bea. 

She perhaps had made a mistake, she had very little experience looking after children, but it couldn’t be all that hard anyways. She wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

“What do you do for fun?” She asked the child, and Bea just blinked, giving a confused giggle, making a gesture with her hand. 

She stared intently at the fist the baby was making, she had no clue what she was saying. “I like your, uh,” she rubbed the back of her neck. “Those signs you’re throwing up there, you’re very smart,” she rose from her chair, following the girl across the room as she lost interest in her aunt, smacking a hand to one of Carol’s shelves and pointing up. 

“What do you want, kid?” She scooped the child up again so she could see the bookshelf, fortunately earning her a happy laugh, and let Bea grab at the shelf. “D’you want a book?” Not that she could hear anything Claire was saying obviously, but she certainly didn’t know the sign language for it. 

Bea signed something to her again in response to this, and Claire only signed back a hello, just to connect with her for a second, a slight smile touching her face when Bea signed hello back, quite overjoyed to finally get a message through. She signed something else with her tiny palms, and Claire tilted her head to show she did not understand anymore.

“Do you want a story before you go to bed?” She figured that must’ve been what she was asking, putting a hand on the bookshelf with only a vague memory of her own mother reading to her growing up. “Or are you too old for that?” She glanced to the phone on the wall, but she didn’t know Carol’s phone number because she didn’t have a phone. She really didn’t know anything about babies, actually, but she was still smiling when she pulled out a book and so she carried her back to the couch where she could see her and sat her on her lap.

“It’s a book about cowboys,” she gestured to the hat the main character on the front was wearing to get her message across, and Bea went to push the book open, pushing back against Claire’s hands where she had the book shut.

She snorted at the bold request to start reading. “Alright, if you insist, look, he’s going to the shop, what is the cowboy going to buy at the shop?” She narrated as she went, whenever she met a word she knew how to sign doing so quite proudly, but the child always seemed to laugh, and she didn’t know why. “Hey, you’re four you can read along on your own now right?” It was a genuine question she had to ask before turning the page. She did not get a reply however because the child was deaf and could not hear her. 

“He’s buying food for his horse at the store,” she continued anyway, feeling Bea begin to squirm, she wasn’t the tallest four year old but she slid one leg off Claire’s lap, and the lieutenant colonel lifted the book up so she could hoist the baby down.

“And he’s buying a lasso at the store,” she continued, still feeling Bea’s presence at her boots. “And he’s also buying one new pair of cowboy boots,” she pointed a finger to the childish illustrations, “oh but whats he going to do without a saddle?” Claire murmured to herself, squinting to see if she had missed a line before continuing on. 

Bea turned away from the book after a moment, a small gurgle of displeasure, moving her hand down from her chin. 

“The cowboy is going back to his horse- oh, that’s a very nice horse,” she turned the book around to show Bea, who wasn’t even looking, just pulling at Claire’s shoelaces like she was trying to tug her somewhere. 

“Hold on, let’s finish the book first okay? What’re you pulling for?” She told the child firmly, signing ‘wait,’ although she couldn’t remember if that was ASL or military sign. “And now he’s using the horse food he bought to feed his horse,” she nodded, happy to see the main character of this kids book making some good decisions. “Bea do you like that? Oh well you don’t have any pets, but he’s being very responsible,” she believed that was a good value for the child to learn. 

Bea signed the word she recognised as horse, and she grinned, laughing before signing it back. She didn’t know what Carol and Ken had to worry about, they were getting along just fine.

She put the book down briefly, letter by letter signing out the name of the book’s horse, just to get in a little spelling lesson because she was a very good aunt. 

Bea just laughed, and Claire picked up the book again, continuing to read even when the child was still pulling at her shoe, she just figured she was bored. 

“The cowboy takes good care of his horse, because that’s his job,” Claire just went on, making a quick mental note that that wasn’t really a cowboy’s job, more just a moral responsibility, “and his horse takes good care of him too,” she finished the couplet, noticing that Bea had stopped pulling, “I know, kid, what does that even mean?” She asked the child with a snort. “And they travel the whole Wild West together.” She flipped the page, mumbling a line to herself, beginning to doubt some of this book’s cowboy ‘facts.’ 

“Well,” she turned to the final page, rather unsatisfied with the ending being some whole sappy rhyming couplet about cowboy friendship. She shut the book, blinking. “Oh now wait a second, you’re deaf - What was I reading that book for?” She put the book down in her lap, only to see that Bea was no longer at her feet.

She shot up, a brief flash of white fear running down her spine when she didn’t see the baby. She cursed, which was okay because Bea couldn’t hear that anyway, noticing it was far too quiet for Bea to still be in the room with her. She put the book down on the table, hurrying over to the front door to ensure it was still locked, and then hurrying back to check behind the couch, and investigate all the small corners of the living room - it was getting late and she wouldn’t be surprised if Bea had fallen asleep on some pillows or by the book case, but she didn’t see her at all. She should’ve been putting her to bed right now. 

Fortunately though, before she could begin to panic she heard a small cry from the kitchen, revealing her location, and she hurried to go and find her before anything could happen.

Bea was standing by the fridge, reaching up to the handle in an attempt to pull it open, when she saw Claire she turned around to sign something to her, but she only recognised the word ‘dad,’ and it made her grimace in contrast to the worried frown on Bea’s face, and Claire thought she looked quite like her mother when she was young. 

“Are you hungry?” Perhaps it was the fact she wasn’t a verbal speaker, or the fact she knew nothing about babies, but she had managed to forget Bea was quite a lot more capable than she had expected - which was great, because Schaeffer was a lot less capable than she expected after letting the child get away. “Here, kid,” she drew her back a step to open up the fridge door, examining it for the aforementioned snacks her sister and brother-in-law had left, brushing her thumb over the child’s eyes to wipe away the stressed tears. 

Bea reached a hand up into the fridge for a plastic yellow bowl, pointing at it, and Claire nudged it towards her. “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed soon?” She only knew the word for sleep, and Bea purposely looked the other way. 

She snickered, that was rather tricky, she liked that. “You can have your snack but then you’ve gotta be off to bed,” she nodded firmly, handing her the bowl since she still couldn’t reach it. “Look at the time. You have to behave for your mother,” she chided, signing sleep again and just really hoping she wasn’t giving her mixed signals. “Eat then sleep,” she signed again, feeling quite professional for being able to pull together one sentence. 

She put Bea’s bowl up on the table for her, “don’t run away this time,” she added, at least in acceptance she was mostly talking to herself but really hoping Bea would do so anyways.

Bea sighed the same sentence to her again, and once more she only picked up on the word ‘dad.’

“Your dad will be home soon,” she answered in very fragmented ASL, filling in the important blanks by spelling the words out, she wouldn’t usually but she didn’t want Bea in any more distress, if she cried Schaeffer would not have a fun time. “Is that what you’re asking?” 

She knelt down, trying to figure out what she was saying about Ken, just in case it was anything important she had to know, but it was no use. 

She stood back up, ruffling a hand through Bea’s hair as she glanced around the room. “Alright kid, you eat your snack,” she begun, a curious thought entering her mind when she realised no one was home to intervene. “I have to go and check something out.”

———————————————————

While the sun was just dropping down behind the horizon the air still held its warmth, but Carol pressed up to Ken anyways, their hands interlaced perfectly as they walked together side by side. 

“It’s nice to have the evening to ourselves,” Ken purred, swinging her hand. His conversational abilities had been quite stiff this evening, and Carol figured there must’ve been something on his thoughts still. She didn’t mind though, because she was a bit wrapped up in her head too. 

Carol nodded, she loved her daughter of course, but it was nice to have an evening with Ken again, just the two of them. “We never really went out when I was young, I love doing things like this.”

Ken nodded, he hadn’t heard any sorts of stories about it from Carol. “What about that one time when your sister-“

“Her heart was in the right place,” Carol stopped him with a laugh, while they hadn’t been a going out family growing up her sister was surprisingly not the reason. “I don’t want to think about Claire’s semi-violent tendencies while she is looking after our child,” she joked, but took it back when she noticed that only scared Ken more. “Look,” she looked him right in the eye in an attempt to calm him down. “What I was trying to say was that it’s been lovely.”

“Been?” Ken veered them to the right of the path, which Carol noticed was just a bit closer to the car park.

“Or, is,” she laughed as she corrected herself, tapping a hand to his chest in apology. “Although we’ve been doing laps of the parking lot,” the pointed out to Ken who let out a prolonged, anxious laugh. 

“Have we?” He veered them back to the left, further from where they had parked their car. “We can walk on the other side of the park if you’d like, love,” he offered quickly. “There’s a nice sitting spot and we can just relax, the sun will still be up for about five minutes,” he guessed. “And there might be a dessert place or-“ now he was just stammering. He didn’t want her to think it was over just because he was anxious. 

“Oh well,” she jerked to a halt, tipping her head to the sinking sun. “It is getting pretty late, it’s a lovely evening, but it is a bit cold out!” She gave a brisk shake of her head to ensure him it was nothing about the date itself. 

They were locked in each other’s stares for a second. 

“Are you-“

“I-“ 

They both cut off as they spoke over each other.

“You go first,” Ken held out a hand.

“No, no you! It’s alright, what did you want to say?” Carols eyes drifted to the side before locking back onto Ken. 

“I was just going to say,” Ken rubbed the back of his neck again, “it’s eight.”

“We’re thinking the exact same thing then,” Carol chuckled to assure him. “I’m sure Bea is in bed.” She let out a sigh of relief. “Oh I was going to say exactly the same thing,” she dropped her head onto Ken’s chest just to catch a breath, wrapping her arms around him.

“May I be honest for a moment?” Ken asked.

“Of course my love,” she was very glad they were on the same page.

“I hate to cut date night short because we spent a lot of time organising it but I am so scared of leaving Schaeffer with our child,” he spoke up stiffly and swiftly albeit very honestly.

“Oh my goodness,” Carol nodded, tugging his hand towards the car. “Me too, let’s go.” 

———————————————————

Claire had never had an interest in paperwork before, but if it were for Carol’s sake she could focus long enough to scan through some files. 

She always had a vibe Ken was not as great as he seemed to be, she wouldn’t be surprised if his real name wasn’t even Ken! She didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, and she just wanted to check out a couple of things about him before-

The phone rang. 

She turned her head towards where the home phone was hung on the wall, a bit bothered to be interrupted in the middle of some important investigation work, but she figured it must be Carol, so it was alright. “Hello?” She answered it, glancing back to the papers on the living room table.

“Oh, hi Claire!” Came Carol’s voice. “Is everything still okay over there?” 

“Of course, I’ve just given Bea her snack and then I’m putting her to bed,” she reported. “Where are you at?” 

“We’re driving home now, we’ll be home in about ten minutes,” she answered.

That was sooner than Claire had thought. “Alright,” she nodded. 

“Bea must be rather tired, she gets a bit grumpy when she needs her sleep, I’m sure she won’t cause you any trouble though.”

“Oh, well only a little bit,” she snorted as she glanced down at her boot, the shoe laces still untied, nothing she couldn’t handle, “we were just-“ she took the phone away from her ear for a second, listening out. “Hanging out,” she finished her sentence cautiously just so she wasn’t leaving Carol waiting. 

There was a strange noise coming from the kitchen, one she didn’t quite like.

“Claire?” Carol asked. “Is everything okay?” 

“Uhh,” she craned her neck to get a better view of the kitchen but she couldn’t see Bea in the chair she had put her bowl at. “See you in ten, Carol!” she stammered, slamming the phone back onto its hook to race to the kitchen.

Bea, not quite tall enough to crawl onto the large wooden dining chair to get her bowl had taken to attempting to climb it, one hand tight around the table cloth as the other reached for a grip on the other side of the chair,not noticing Claire’s presence in the kitchen. 

However the cloth had hitched around the back corner and with each yank the small table threatened to tip, and whenever she let go of the chair to get a better grip it would still teeter under her balance. 

With a particularly frustrated grumble she readjusted her grip on the table cloth with both hands, letting go of the chair, and Claire raves in to scoop her up off the floor before the whole thing could tip over on top of her, the chair crashing into the ground where she had been only seconds ago as she caught the table with her other hand.

“You must scare your mother half to death,” Claire held her breath despite the danger passing, holding Bea close to her chest as she tried to process what had just happened. 

Bea let out a shocked and choked half-wail at being hauled up so suddenly, but when Claire turned her around to carry her on her hip she seemed to calm down, her eyes still distressed and tired. 

“Alright. Let’s not,” her eyes were honestly just as wide, “don’t cry, we don’t need to do that,” she shook her head, talking to herself once again, but hoping Bea might get the message. 

She groaned at the plastic bowl that had hit the floor, the cut fruit inside scattered onto the tiles. “Oh, kid,” she sighed, just holding her a bit tighter, Bea was gripping on tight to her shirt, and shook her head when Claire attempted to lean down to pick up the mess, she couldn’t even set the chair back up right. 

Not wanting her to cry after the scare, carried her over to the couch and set her down in her lap where she could watch the child this time. It wasn’t hard, as Bea tucked herself under Claire’s arm.

“Oooh. Okay,” she winced, giving her an unsure pat on the back. “Please don’t cry.” She looked down at her for a second, brushing a thumb over her forehead to clear her hair from her wet eyes. “Just sit right here then.” 

She stayed still, not wanting to jostle or startle her, even when her back ached, right until Carol and Ken got home. 

“Do we need to call an ambulance!?” Came Ken’s frightened call as he swung open the front door, followed by the hurrying of his shoes across the floor as he skidded around the corner into the living room.

“She’s sleeping Ken, don’t frighten her,” she held up one hand for silence. 

“She’s deaf,” Ken reminded her. 

“There was no need to shout, she’s perfectly fine,” she huffed. “I’m a perfectly fine baby sitter, look. She’s all still in one piece.” Fortunately, she was all asleep by this point, she must’ve tired herself out.

Carol came around the corner seconds later, letting out a gasp at the sight of Bea in Claire’s arms. “Oh, that’s so sweet,” she cooed, coming in to sit besides them.

“Is that my birth certificate?” Ken paused to point to the files on the table. “What’s that here for?” His jaw dropped, fear sparking in his eyes. 

“That’s classified,” she answered, turning her attention back to the child despite Ken not being done with his line of questioning.

“You can’t just say that.”

“Yes I can,” she teased. 

“Carol tell her to put it away,” he huffed, crossing his arms and sitting in the chair across from them. 

“I was just showing Bea, don’t freak out about it Ken I wasn’t doing anything bad,” she rolled her eyes, gently helping Carol shift the baby into her arms, “also don’t go to the kitchen,” 

“Hm?” She blinked. 

“Nothing.” She shook her head, leaning back in the chair and pressing her hands to her forehead. “You didn’t have to rush home,“ she told them, although it was probably for the best. 

“It’s okay, I still think this is a very lovely night,” she cast a smile to Ken who managed one back, at least quite content his daughter was already asleep.

“Yeah,” he agreed, reaching a hand across the table to connect with hers.

“Thank you for doing that on such short notice, Claire, I’m so glad you two get along, I really hope it wasn’t too much trouble,” she nursed her daughter’s head to her chest, and the girl sleepily wrapped her arms around her mother instead. “Did you have a nice time together?” She glanced to the child’s book still on the table, a small but warm laugh coming from her. 

Claire gave a half nod, but not much more, still a bit stunned at how fast a baby could harm themselves if left unattended.   
That was somehow far more stressful than any of the missions she had been on in quite a while. 

“Would you like to do it again sometime?” She was joking mostly, and turned to her sister with a friendly if not a bit teasing grin. 

“No, no, maybe not,” both Ken and Claire cut in at the same time, their voices clashing together, both shaking their heads, and Carol laughed, trying hard not to wake up the child asleep in her arms.   
At least they were on the same page for once.


End file.
